Locomotive stoker



W- T. HANNA LOCOMOTIVE STOKER Aug. 28, 1934.

Filed Feb. 8, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOZ/.

ATTOR 1 NEYS 1934- w. T. HANNA 1,971,343

LOCOMOTIVE STOKER Filed Feb. 8, 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNVEN-TOR MM 1 ATTORNEYs Aug. 28, 1934. w. T. HANNA LOCOMOTIVE STOKER Filed Feb. 8. 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 MN KN m N N\ M 3 A w W BY W W22? lw I H Patented Aug. 28, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT oFmcE Application February s, ease -a1 No. 426,848 7 14 Claims.' (01.198-15) This invention relates to stokingmechanisms and particularly such as are commonly used in locomotives in which the fuel is conveyed. from; a fuel tender to thelocomotive fire box.

One of the objectsof the invention is to provide a stoker mechanism which will be simple and sturdy in construction, and eificient in operation.

Another object is to providea stoker mechanism which will insure a smooth and regular flow of fuel from the storage bin in the tender to the fire box. Another object is to eliminate overloading of the fuel conveying means and reduce the amount of power required to operate the stoker. l

, Another object is to permit effective control of the flow of fuel from stoker hopper. Another object is to provide a fuel-flow controlling device which may be man- 29 ually operated. Other objects will be in part evident and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangements of parts as will be exemplifled in the structure to be hereinafterdescribed and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of the, various possible embodiments of] this invention:

a Fig. 1 is a partiallongitudinal sectional view 'of an installation of the stoker mechanismin corporated in a locomotive and tender; V

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken sub- 5 stantially, on the line 2 -2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is adetail top plan view'of the tender, and

Figs. (and 5 are enlarged longitudinal sece tional views of the tender showing the fuelflowcontrolling device in different positionsn In the drawings, the locomotive tender lo 'is provided with a fuel storage compartment or bin 11 and a tender hopper 12. The floorof the bin 11 comprises fixed sideplates 13and a seriesof slidable' plates 14, the latter beingsupported'in slideways formed by plates 15" and '16 rigidly secured to the under side of the plates 13.. Between these side plates is an elongated opening}? providing communication between the bin and hopper andlextending longitudinally of the bin substantially fromfront to rear. The plates 14 form a cover for the opening 17 and movement thereof along the slideways maybe manually effected by the use of a hand. hook which maybe .55 inserted-in holes 18provided, for the purpose in the tender bin into the these plates, or in any other convenient man v 1161'. A stationary shovel plate 19 also serves as a portion of the bin at the forward end thereof above the plane of the slidable plates 14.

The plates 14 are adapted to be moved forwardly in the bin one at a time to progressively establish an outlet through which the fuel will flow into the hopper fromthe front of the pile as such fuel recedes toward the rear of the bin. It has been found in practice that when these plates are moved in thefmanner described, unless a regulating device is provided, an excessive amount of fuel not infrequently falls suddenly into the hopper, and: this results in overloading the transfer or, conveying mechanism of the stoker, causing irreg'ularity in the amount of fuel supplied to the fire box. Also at such timesit has been found that theconveying mechanism is required to pull coal through coal which generally occurs when a considerable'length of the spiral conveyor in 752 such mechanism is exposed to the coal in. the

tender. 1

In order to eliminate these troubles and to insure a smooth and-regular flow of fuel to the fire box, a fuel-flowcontrollingdevice has been pros0- vided in the tender. This device co-operates with the series of slidable plates 14. in the floor, of the bin to permit the area of the fuel outlet established by such plates to be regulated and gradually increased to its full size as the fuel recedes, irrespec- 35 tiveof the position of such outlet longitudinally of the opening 1'? as determined by'the arrange ment ofthe slidable plates.

5 This fuel-flow controlling device in the present embodiment is located beneath the floor of the bin 11 and comprises/a plate 20 supported in oppositely disposed slideways formed by plates 21 and 22 rigidly'secured-to each of the plates16 so that the plate 20 may be moved longitudinally of; the opening 1? into various adjusted positions. The forward edge of the plate 20 maybe shapedin the form. of; a concaved arc, as shown inFig. ,3, to facilitate the flow. of the fuel. Movement of the plate 20 longitudinally of the opening maybe accomplished in various I have provided an operating device therefor which comprises rotatable shafts 23 and 24 journalled adjacent each end of the tender structure and having rigidly secured thereto sprockets 25 and 26. ,Upon these shaftsare mounted suitable sprocket chains 2'7 and 28to which are attached cross bars 29 rigidly secured to the'plate20. The shaft 2lis the driving shaft and rotary motion may be imparted thereto in any suitable manner.

In the present instance the shaft 24; is manually ways but in this instance 100 operated by a device which comprises a notched disk 30 rigidly secured on the shaft and an operating lever 31 provided with a sliding clutch member 32 to engage the notches in such disk. This clutch member is normally held out of engagement with the notches in the disk and is adapted to be operatively engaged therewith by means of a bell crank lever 33 pivotally mounted upon the lever 31 and operatively connected to the clutch member 32. In order that the clutch member 32 may be held normally out of engagement with the notches in the disk 30, a compression spring 34 is interposed between the handle.-

of the bell crank lever 33 and the lever 31. The tender hopper 12 is provided with suitable means such as a spiral conveyor 35, for conveying the fuel forwardly toward the locomotive. A fuel crushing device as 36 maybe mounted within the tender hopper to partially encompass, the delivery end of the conveyor 35. To the forward end of the-hopper is operatively connected a transfer conduit 37 enclosing a conveyor such as. 38 which serves to conduct the fuel from the tender hopper to a housing 39 which is supported upon the back-head 40 of the locomotive fire box and from thence the fuel passes into such fire box through the usual firing opening 41. The conveyors 35 and 38 are operatively connected to a power device 42 located upon the locomotive. As this particular conveying mechanism as well as the power device form no partof the present invention andas any other suitable forms of mechanism for this purpose may be used, the details of construction have not been shown or described and such illustration and description as is provided is merely for the purpose of illustrating the features of this invention.

' The operation of the fuel-flow controlling device is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. Fig. 4 shows the sliding plates 14 and the fuel-flow controlling device in their customary positions when the fuel compartment or bin is first loaded. Thereafter when the stoking mechanism is to be started the forward plate 14. is moved in its slideways so that it lies substantially entirely beneath the shovel plate 19 and thus a discharge outlet is provided in the floor of thebin directly above the plate 20', permitting the fuel to fall-thereon. By first grasping with on hand the end of the lever 31 and the bell crank lever 33 to engage the clutch member 32 and then moving the lever in a clockwise direction, as viewedin Fig. 1, this causes the plate 20 to move rearwardly beneath the opening 17. This creates an opening through which the coal may flow from the front of the pile into the tender hopper, the size of the opening depending upon the amount of movement imparted to the plate 20.- Additionalrearward movement of theplate 20 may be effected from time to time, as required, by reciprocatory movement of the lever 31, permitting disengagement of the clutch member 32 from the disk: 30011 the counter clockwise stroke and effectingengagement of the same on the clockwise stroke. r

As the volume of fuel in the bin recedes, successive plates 14 are pulled forward and the plate 20 moved rearwardly by degrees so as to always effect a control over the quantityof fuel being permitted to fall from the front of the pile into the tender hopper; This procedure is continued until the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 5 where the bin is substantially empty. Before reloading the bin, the plates 14 and 20 are returned to the position shown in Fig. 4, the plate 20=being brought to its extreme forward position .to'l' operate the stoker.

by reciprocatory movement of the lever 31 in reverse fashion to that previously described, namely, permitting disengagement of the clutch member 32 with the disk 30 on the clockwise stroke and effecting the engagement of these parts on the counter clockwise stroke.

The incorporation of such controlling means in a stoker insures smooth and uninterrupted flow of the fuel to the fire box and prevents overloading of the fuel conveying mechanism. It also eliminates the pulling of coal through coal and thus reduces the amount of power required The control mechanism may be readily operated manually. This mechanism is simple and sturdy in construction, easy to operate and positive in its action.

Therefore, it will be seen that there is provided a construction of an essentially practical nature in which the several objects of this invention are attained.

As many'other embodiments may be made of the features-of the above ll'lVEliJiOIl without departing from the scope of the invention, it is to be understood that all matter shown in the accompanying interpreted as illustrative and sense.

I claim:

1. In a locomotive stoker, in combination, a tender-hopper, a fuel bin including a floor having a fuel discharge outlet communicating with said hopper, floor plates movable relatively to said floor to shift the position of said outlet therein, means for varying the area of said outlet, means for actuating said varying means, and means for transferring fuel from said hopper to the locomotive.

2. Ina fuel tender, in combination. a hopper, a fuel bin. including floor having a discharge outlet therein communicating with said hopper, means for shifting the position of said outlet with respect to said bin, and means for varying the effective area of said outlet.

3. In a fuel tender, in combination, a fuel storage bin including a "ioor having an elongated opening therein, a hopper beneath said bin andin alignment with said opening, relatively shiftable plates for partially covering said opening whereby a shiftable discharge outlet is provided through which the fuel passes from the bin to the hopper, the location of said outlet being determined by the position of said plates, and means independent of said plates for varying the area of said outlet. V g

4. In a fuel tender, in combination, a fuel storage bin provided withan elongated opening in the floor thereof, a hopper beneath said .bin and in alignmentwith said opening, cover'plates shiftable. longitudinally of said opening to provide a progressive discharge outlet, a regulating plate movable relative to said cover plates to vary the area of said outlet, and manually operable means for actuating said regulating plate.

5. In a fuel tender, in combination, a hopper, afuel storage bin includinga floor having an outlet therein communicating. with drawings is to be not in a limiting the. effective area-of said outlet whereby the effective area of said outlet may be progressively increased as the supply of through tends to diminish.

6. In a fuel tender, in combination, a fuel compartment comprising afloor section arranged so herein set forth or fuel passing there-- as to provide a shiftable opening of substantially- '7. In a fuel tender, in combination, a tender-,

hopper, a fuel compartment comprising a floor section arranged so as to provide a shiftable opening of substantially constant cross section therein through which fuel may flow from said compartment into said tender-hopper, a fuel-flow controlling device comprising a plate movable relative to said opening for varying the size thereof and regulating the quantity of fuel entering the said tender-hopper through said opening, and means for adjusting the position of said plate relative to said opening.

8.- In a fuel tender, in combination, a tenderhopper, a fuel compartment comprising a floor section arranged so as to provide a shiftable opening of substantially constant cross section therein through which fuel may flow from said compartment into said tender-hopper, and a fuelfiow controlling device comprising a movable plate for regulating the size of said opening, said plate having its forward edge shaped in the form of a concaved are.

9. In a fuel tender, in combination, a tender hopper, a fuel compartment above said tender hopper, a floor section in said compartment having an opening therein for allowing fuel to flow from said compartment to said hopper, said floor section being adjustable to shift the opening with respect to said compartment, and means independent of said floor section for varying the effective area of said opening to control the free flow of fuel therethrough.

10. In a fuel tender, in combination, a tender hopper, a fuel compartment above said tender hopper, a floor section in said compartment for supporting fuel therein, and having an opening therein for allowing fuel to flow from said compartment to said tender hopper, said .fioor section being adjustable to progressively move said positioned so as to have movement free from opening rearwardly from the forward end of said fuel compartment as the fuel in said compartment is diminished, and means positioned below said floor section for varying the effective area of said opening.

11. In a fuel tender, in combination, a tender hopper, a fuel compartment above said tender hopper, a floor section in said compartment having an opening therein for allowing fuel to flow from said compartment to said hopper, said floor section being adjustable to shift the opening with respect to said compartment, and means independent of said floor section for varying the effective area of said opening, said means being restriction by themass of fuel in said compartment.

'12. In a fuel tender, in combination, a hopper, a fuel bin above said hopper and means in the floor of said fuel bin forming a shiftable discharge outlet connecting said fuel bin and hopper, and fuel flow controlling means positioned beneath said shiftable discharge outlet-forming means adapted to regulate the quantity of fuel passing through said discharge outlet.

13. In a fuel tender, in combination, a hopper, a fuel bin including a floor having a discharge outlet therein communicating with said hopper, means for shifting the position of said outlet with respect to said bin, a plate member for varying the effective area of said outlet, driving means for effecting linear translation of said member with respect to said floor and an operating member operable at will to actuate said driving means.

14. In a fuel tender, in combination, a hopper, a fuel bin including a floor having a discharge outlet therein communicating with said hopper, means for shifting the position of said outlet with respect to said bin, a plate member for 115 varying the effective area of said outlet, chain and I sprocket means for effecting linear translation of said member with respect to said floor, and a manually operable member to actuate said chain and sprocket means.

WILLIAM THOMPSON HANNA. 

